Marianas Trench continues to leave it all on the stage

Marianas Trench has always lived by the maxim that bigger is better when it comes to their live shows, and the Never Say Die tour is no exception.

Scheduled to stop at the Brandt Centre on March 26, the tour is in support of Astoria, which was released on Oct. 23. The album concept pays tribute to the ’80s, both in its sound and style. It also serves as a great launching point for the stage show.

“We have definitely tried to enhance the experience and make it sort of an alternate world while you’re there,” explained bassist Mike Ayley in a recent telephone interview. “It’s hard to know when you’re on stage how everything’s going because you can’t sit back and look at everything. With this show there’s a costume vibe, as we’re really going for that ‘80s Sunset Strip rocker thing. There’s a lot less clothing, a lot tighter clothing, things like that. We’re working out before every show every day so we don’t look embarrassing.

“It has really been fun building an experimental show for everybody.”

Ayley, along with bandmates Josh Ramsay (vocalist), Matt Webb (guitar) and Ian Casselman (drums), have been working hard at spreading the word. In addition to the current Canadian tour, which opened March 9 in Kingston, Ont., and is scheduled to end April 8 in Vancouver, the band spent good portions of November, January and February touring in the United States.

While there are some negatives of being on the road for an extended period, it’s the touring that inspires Ayley to continue to chase his musical dreams.

“For me, there would be no point (without the shows),” explained Ayley. “There are people who are strictly writers, and creating the songs and the art is the satisfaction they need. But for me, personally, it’s all about the live show. That’s my reward for all of the rehearsals and all of the studio time and all of the travelling. It comes down to that hour and a half on stage when we’re doing the tour — the adrenalin and the connection with the audience and just getting to feel different vibes in different cities.

“You’re never sure what you’re going to get, so it’s about making sure to come out every day and finding that last per cent, if you’ve got it. You dig out that little bit extra.”

During that three-month span, Marianas Trench — which is signed with Interscope in the United States — played 43 shows in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

While success in the U.S. isn’t the driving force behind that band, Ayley said they are committed to making their mark in the larger, more competitive market. He added that this latest string of shows indicates the band is picking up traction in the States.

“We are definitely gaining some ground there,” said Ayley. “We had a show in Indianapolis that’s a good example. We hadn’t played there in a while, and probably played for 400 or 500 people the last time we were there, and there were 1,500 people there this time. Any place we went where we’d been before, the numbers were 50 per cent to 150 per cent more than the previous time, which is all we can hope for … I feel if we can get a little bit of a foothold in the mass media stuff, that will put us over the edge. We’re really close.”

Astoria, following in the footsteps of Fix Me (2006), Masterpiece Theatre (2009) and Ever After (2011), is comprised of 17 songs, with some tracks transitioning between songs. Influenced by fantasy and adventure films from the 1980s, Astoria has been well received by Marianas Trench’s fan base, which doesn’t surprise Ayley. He said the fans understand the band is continually exploring new sounds and he feels that latitude to experiment resulted in the band’s best work.

“I feel like it’s our strongest album. I feel like it’s the most emotional, the most candid and the most creative,” said Ayley. “We’re always trying to push the envelope with what you can get away with on an album, but I feel what we did with the opening track and the closing track bookends to intro and finish the album, we created the thing to accomplish the goal — that ‘80s vibe in tribute, but in a way that people haven’t been doing. We didn’t want to do the New Wave thing, we wanted to do more of The Eurythmics, you know, a little more fun. We got to do that.

“I also feel the lyrical content is raw and is the bravest Josh has been with his words on any album to date.”

Marianas Trench

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